- Joined
- Aug 8, 2020
Bias is typically considered "bad." But really biases are the tools of inductive reasoning. They are how decisions can be made without sufficient data. And decisiveness matters.
An obvious example of bias having practical application is a known conman trying to sell you something: you know not to buy whatever he's selling. He could give every logical justification in the world that you need to buy his shit. But you know he's a conman. You know better to buy anything he's selling. This is a textbook logical fallacy. You are employing ad hominem to decide, despite every well-reasoned argument he provides, to not give him a penny. And you're likely right in doing so. He's a conman. He may be good at his trade and knows all the right things to say to get you to buy his bullshit.
More interesting than that is the fact that most cognitive biases have an inverse. The nationalistic bias is counterbalanced by the cosmopolitan bias. People either play up the great things about their country and downplay the bad or they sing the praises of any culture apart from theirs and lambast the dumb shit their country does while conveniently forgetting about all the dumb shit every other culture gets involved in. The "slippery slope" fallacy assumes that a minor change in legislation will lead to greater changes down the line. But some slopes are, in fact, slippery.
What I'm really getting at is that bias is a tool. It's sometimes not the right tool. But it ensures that decisions can be made on complicated issues.
You don't have to know everything to come to a decision. You just have to know enough to inform your biases. Let's just hope your bias is the right one.
An obvious example of bias having practical application is a known conman trying to sell you something: you know not to buy whatever he's selling. He could give every logical justification in the world that you need to buy his shit. But you know he's a conman. You know better to buy anything he's selling. This is a textbook logical fallacy. You are employing ad hominem to decide, despite every well-reasoned argument he provides, to not give him a penny. And you're likely right in doing so. He's a conman. He may be good at his trade and knows all the right things to say to get you to buy his bullshit.
More interesting than that is the fact that most cognitive biases have an inverse. The nationalistic bias is counterbalanced by the cosmopolitan bias. People either play up the great things about their country and downplay the bad or they sing the praises of any culture apart from theirs and lambast the dumb shit their country does while conveniently forgetting about all the dumb shit every other culture gets involved in. The "slippery slope" fallacy assumes that a minor change in legislation will lead to greater changes down the line. But some slopes are, in fact, slippery.
What I'm really getting at is that bias is a tool. It's sometimes not the right tool. But it ensures that decisions can be made on complicated issues.
You don't have to know everything to come to a decision. You just have to know enough to inform your biases. Let's just hope your bias is the right one.
